My outside the US travels are limited but one thing I found interesting about the places I went to vs the US was that they usually had the number on the coin. Our coins don't have the number on the currency which seems like it would be difficult for foreigners to use.

My outside the US travels are limited but one thing I found interesting about the places I went to vs the US was that they usually had the number on the coin. Our coins don't have the number on the currency which seems like it would be difficult for foreigners to use.

I just noticed, after seeing your post, that American money doesn't have numbers on it.

I was waiting for someone else to mention this, but I haven't seen it yet so here goes. Maybe you youngsters are not aware of it, but, since the beginning of the dollar, the basic sub-unit of the dollar has been the mill:

This is still frequently seen on gas prices and property tax bills, despite the fact that there are no longer mills in circulation. I can't see going to quarters only, but, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollars -sure. (Way back when, half-dollar coins were in common use. Not sure what happened.) Mills were in common use when my parents were young. Once physical pennies disappear, gas prices can still be given in pennies, and, tenth of pennies (mills), just as they are now.

I'm curious though, that some monetary conservatives seem to view the current situation as an example of government "waste". They should be very happy that coins, at least, if not paper money, are worth something based on the commodity metals they are made of.

My outside the US travels are limited but one thing I found interesting about the places I went to vs the US was that they usually had the number on the coin. Our coins don't have the number on the currency which seems like it would be difficult for foreigners to use.

Coins in America were the least of my problems.What I found far more confusing about American money was all the paper money was the same size and colours. I really had to check every time twice I paid for anything, coloured notes make it so much easier.
This and the fact that the softdrink machines took Dollar bills. No machines take paper money here.

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

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What I found so confusing about American money was all the paper money was the same size and colours. This and the fact that the softdrink machines took Dollar bills. I really had to check every time twice I paid for anything, coloured notes make it so much easier.

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

It's the take a penny, leave a penny tray (haven't seen Office Space? )

The idea is if your total is $10.01, you can give them a 20 dollar bill plus a penny from the tray to get an even 10 back instead of $9.99 (or $10.01, $11.01, whatever's in your wallet. You get the idea). Likewise, if my total is something like $9.98 and I hand over a 10, I'll drop the 2 cents in the tray rather than carry the change around.

Coins in America were the least of my problems.What I found far more confusing about American money was all the paper money was the same size and colours. I really had to check every time twice I paid for anything, coloured notes make it so much easier.
This and the fact that the softdrink machines took Dollar bills. No machines take paper money here.

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

Haha and I remember thinking how weird it was having different color and different sizes of bills when I was in Europe.

Coins in America were the least of my problems.What I found far more confusing about American money was all the paper money was the same size and colours. I really had to check every time twice I paid for anything, coloured notes make it so much easier.
This and the fact that the softdrink machines took Dollar bills. No machines take paper money here.

I also noticed a small tray in various shops on the counter by the till, which had 1 cents coins?

US dollars have actually become a bit more colorful in recent years:

PS The $2 bill, though technically still legal currency, is rarely seen nowadays.
PPS Those dashes on the $100 bill are only seen when photocopied.

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It's the take a penny, leave a penny tray (haven't seen Office Space? )

The idea is if your total is $10.01, you can give them a 20 dollar bill plus a penny from the tray to get an even 10 back instead of $9.99 (or $10.01, $11.01, whatever's in your wallet. You get the idea). Likewise, if my total is something like $9.98 and I hand over a 10, I'll drop the 2 cents in the tray rather than carry the change around.

Thanks that's one of life's little mysteries cleared up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dukebound85

Haha and I remember thinking how weird it was having different color and different sizes of bills when I was in Europe.

I do suppose it's what you are used to. Plus it's one of the fun things about being abroard, everything being different.

When I was in the US Army (for 6 years), did most of my time overseas, and i can tell you i never missed the penny. Even now 20 years later and i still like the idea of not using pennies. People will never miss the penny.

why are you people worried for the cost of making a penny; my guess is most money is electronic this day and is not printed out, so I would assume the cost of making $ would be offset and it could gain money at the end. THe same could be said of bills, when I went to one of the mints a few years back a $1 would cost them the same as a $20 bill to make (this was before all the new designs though), so bigger bills cost was really low and it offset the cost of the lower denomination plus my thinking of electronic $ that is not printed would make me think the cost as of today is irrelevant.

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Better, convert all coinage and bills to a 1-2-5 series, starting at dimes.

Yes, this!

Prices stay as they are, and are charged down to the $0.01 for electronic payments. But for cash payments, the final transaction amount gets rounded to the nearest $0.10. Half the time you "lose" up to $0.05, and half the time you "win" up to $0.05--an amount which someone making minimum wage earns in about 25 seconds.

Keep the dime, maybe introduce a 20-cent coin (perhaps the size of a nickel but thinner and with a ridged edge), and slim down the 50-cent piece. With those three denominations, you should only get 3 coins as change--and 75% of the time you'll get only 1 or 2--for any transaction, ignoring dollar coins (I've done the math). This should speed up things at the cash register.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carlanga

why are you people worried for the cost of making a penny;

Not worried, just very annoyed. Between the money lost in manufacturing a coin that's barely worth anything, and the time lost in handling it by both the customer and stores, it's just a nuisance.

By the way, when the US stopped circulating half-cent coins in 1857, they had the buying power that $0.12 has today. Somehow they survived back then.

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why are you people worried for the cost of making a penny; my guess is most money is electronic this day and is not printed out, so I would assume the cost of making $ would be offset and it could gain money at the end. THe same could be said of bills, when I went to one of the mints a few years back a $1 would cost them the same as a $20 bill to make (this was before all the new designs though), so bigger bills cost was really low and it offset the cost of the lower denomination plus my thinking of electronic $ that is not printed would make me think the cost as of today is irrelevant.

Exactly! Why do people care that we take a loss on the penny? I know it sounds weird that its not worth as much as it cost to make...but so what? The other coins and bills, the higher you go, are worth more and more than what they cost to make...so its like a restaurant that makes small profit on salad, maybe a loss on a special but a fortune on the soda.

All mine just say "One Cent". Nickels say "Five Cents". Dimes say "One Dime". Quarters say "Quarter Dollar". The few countries I have been to in Europe have numbers on them. If I didn't speak English and was trying to use change in America (on vacation for instance) I would fail miserably. I was able to use Euro coins because they had numbers on them.

That's true. But I still find them annoying and tedious to deal with. And somebusinesses do as well (and they're finding it worthwhile to stop using pennies even when they always round in the customer's favor).

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2¢ to make and distribute a US penny, 11¢ for a nickel. I know the government is inefficient, but this is silly.

It's called inflation.

Via debasement of the US dollar by the federal reserve, the cost of the metal (which remains relatively constant - relative to things OTHER than money which is being debased) is now worth more than the face value of the coin.